Avatar: A Few Brave Terrans
by Southern Coyote
Summary: 20 years before the Battle of Pandora, this is the story of a rebel who just wanted to people to live free.
1. Chapter 1

Avatar: A Few Brave Terrans

20 years before the Battle of Pandora, this is the story of a rebel who just wanted to people to live free.

Chapter One:

Humanity had forged civilizations on Luna, Mars, Europa, Titian, Pluto, Pandora and even in empty space itself; despite all these settlements in hostile environments, no soul had ever truly had the desire to try and establish a human colony in a certain hot, dank, slimy mess, full of animals ready to eat any unlucky soul that crossed them and insects that could kill by disease and even by annoyance to the point of insanity. Thus, short of a few hovels that had been made by humans who thought for some reason they would like to life in this methane smelling niche of Terra, this was a spot that was free from the marks of human civilization.

Cody Wright knew this place well, it was deep in his soul. He could track through marshes that looked like carbon copies of each other to the untrained eye for hours and hours without making a single wrong turn. He could see an alligator covered under swamp grass and moss lying completely still from a hundred meters away. He could sense the disturbance from a Resources Development Administration Boat running on silent mode from nearly a kilometer.

So it was here, in his element, in one of the handfuls of places on Terra where the RDA had to lament that its greed and industry could not reach, that he had forged the second largest concentration of rebels in North America; his rebel army was only surpassed in size by the one led by Samuel McCoy in the East Alaska and the Yukon.

This morning, like any other, he woke up, rose gracefully out of his hammock, stretched his arms, then his legs, ate two pieces of alligator jerky, and took in a deep breath of the humid, dank, thick, methane scented air of the Okefenokee Swamp.

With only a quick glance at the sun Cody knew the time exactly, it was 7:15 in the morning, it was already in the upper 20's Celsius, in the mid 80's in degrees Fahrenheit. Humidity was high, of course, and the air was rich with the various smells and stenches that a summer day in the Okefenokee Swamp always held. The foliage was thick all around him, and light filtered in a dozen rich shades of dark and pale greens and yellows.

Cody looked around, to his left he saw the hammock of his second in command, Raul Gomez, then his weapons expert, Tammie Jenkins. He knew just off in the distance was Tyler Wilkins, an infiltration and recruitment expert. He was glad to see he was not here actually. It was a rare occasion that Raul and he slept closer than 100 meters apart, for fear that they were too easy and important of a target for the RDA.

He peeled back some foliage and looked out onto a half dozen more hammocks within eye shot; he watches as several nightwatchmen wake up their replacements before getting some shuteye. Beyond this, across mucky lowlands and perched in the various places of the swamp dry enough to walk or even simply floating on rafts and boats and whatever a human could sleep on, all with a great love for their home and naturally following that a great love and respect for nature. Across the Okefenokee Swamp were individuals who constituted the Terran Alliance.

Cody knew his leadership had been critical in ensuring the Terran Alliance did not splinter. He kept in contact with leaders of rebels in Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, Switzerland, Nigeria, Cambodia, China, Russia, in most any part of the world where a human could carve out an existence if and only if he or she worked with nature and not against it.

He grabbed his bow and slung it over his shoulder, backwards, so the string was across his chest; then he grasped his M-14, an ancient gun that had been passed down for generations, but had proved indestructible in most any environment. Furthermore, it was very good a knocking down RDA agents, and stopping an alligator if need be.

He moved to go and wake Tammie, as he did, he looked at his scarred chocolate colored arms. Trying to remember how he came to have each one, but then, all the burns, cuts, fights, and bug bites blurred together. He looked Tammie over, she was beautiful. Her muscle was well defined and he knew her dark brown eyes held deep emotion as they moved behind her coffee-colored eyelids. He almost did not want to wake her as that would mean another day of not being able to explain how he truly felt about her. In fact, that thought affected him so deeply, it was the only thing in the world he was afraid of he thought, that he turned around and hit Raul gently with the butt of his M-14.

"Morning brother." He said coolly.

"Yep." responded Gomez. He began to clamor out of his hammock, but suddenly failed and fell out onto the ground with a sound somewhere between a groan and a sigh. All this was loud enough to wake Tammie. Who hopped up and grabbed at a knife, as she had woken up from a bad nightmare.

"Whoa! Chill girl!" Said Gomez with alarm as he sat up.

Her brown eyes glowed in the shimmer of the morning sun with the slightest hints of hazel at the pupils and her face was so full of rage. She took a deep breath and lowered her knife.

"Was it about Mars again?" Cody asked compassionately.

She looked startled by this statement, not quite knowing how to react. "Y-yea. It was. Red Sands Base e-explosion." She stuttered , remembering past dreams about events she had lived through. It was a lie though. She could never tell him what her nightmare had really been about, and she had a feeling that by the end of the day it might come true.

_Authors Notes: What do you think so far? Sorry if these first few chapters do not blow you away with the action and drama, there's a lot to set up. And, no, this fanfic deals almost none with the movie, there might be some references later on, but nothing big. I promise cool action soon! The premise, in case you were wondering, is taken from the book "Avatar: An Activist Survival Guide." The introduction of the book is written from the prospective of some rebel calling to action anyone who hates the RDA's manufactured lifestyle. Not saying that Cody is _that _rebel, but just that he is one of those who truly does hate the way the RDA abuses Terra and makes people life in a way that is so programed. Do know that while there is nothing in this chapter that really stands to be rated above K+, I have rated it T for the next chapters and well, looking at some of my later chapters that have not been revised yet, it might just have to be bumped up to M. The plot gets very gritty._

_Disclaimer: (the only one I am going post) I do not own any of the Avatar universe, and am not making any money from this. The original characters are mine._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Cody pulled up a hand held display screen, and flipped through about a dozen displays and camera screens, monitoring the access points in the swamp. He then looked over the radar display screen. Everyone in the rebellion was rather fearless, but all it would take would be a Scorpion Gunship to doge a few shoulder fired anti-air missiles and launch a few high explosives into the right places in the swamp to cause utter destruction and tragedy. The air was always where the rebels were lacking, two Scorpions and a Sampson, that was it. It paled in comparison to the just what the RDA had patrolling for rebels.

He set the display aside and drew a glass of water from a nearby cooler type container. He sighed heavily, behind that sigh was a question he struggled with daily, it was a question of 'what if?' "What if," he muttered where no one could hear him "what if the RDA just gets tired and drops an antimatter bomb on us? They'll just blow the whole place to nothing." He splashed a little of the water on his face and pushed that thought deep into the back of his head.

"I am going to go see the school children today." The leader announced to his second and third commanders. "Keep a tight ship while I am gone." Without another word, he set out across the swamp, it was nearly two kilometers to where the school was, and that was no easy trek across a mucky swamp.

School started at 9:00 am sharp, several huts of sticks and mud just north of the dead center of the swamp, the children and civilians were buried deepest of all, they were the future for this world, the only hope that Terra would ever have for a recovery. He moved towards the school, listening to the faint sounds of the various lectures occurring simultanoulsy. As he approached, some one noticed him and the school children rushed around him, wanting just to see their lauded leader up close.

Cody smiled and simply said, "Thank you, but remember, I am nothing without you, we are all connected, all our connections spread out like a spiderweb, each supporting the next."

Two bleeps came from the small communicator device at Cody's waist. He checked it and saw that it was a call from Raul, and he had dialed it with an urgent marking. Cody knew he would only use that for something detestable. It was all he could do not to swear in front of the children. He smiled again, and waved by and ran off, where the kids could not hear him receiving what was sure to be news of the worst variety.

"Raul? What?"

"Armadillo's in the chicken house!"

"I will see you in five!" He hung up and grabbed his M-14 now carrying it by the pistol grip, finger on the trigger, extremely nervous now. He knew today was going too well, it was too beautiful, now it was about to be permanent scar in the history of the Terran Alliance. He stopped running only once, not to rest but to see a monarch butterfly perch itself on a leaf, fly down, and then get stuck in a small puddle of mud. Suddenly, Cody had a deep ache in his stomach; he felt he was going to die today. He said a quick prayer to God, asking not for his life but for the salvation on the planet as soon as possible.


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Whoo! A chapter with action!_

Chapter Three

By the time Cody got to the forward command post, there were already shots being fired. In the distance, sniper rifles cracked through the thick air, and suddenly, he heard the whirring blades of a Scorpion Gunship, then the launch of a surface-to-air missile, then a roaring explosion.

"Howdy y'all!" He exclaimed as he slid into the trench that was at a major choke point in the southern part of the swamp. It was intentionally misleading, for several kilometers, the marshes looked fairly open and navigable, but suddenly the path became closed off and blocked by sandbars.

"Cody! Good to have you here." Said Tyler Wilkins.

"Ty, where's Raul? He is the one who called me."

Some of the color left Tyler's face. "It was a sneak attack, an RDA .50 cal caught him in the left arm. He will probably lose it. It happened maybe 30 seconds after he called you. I don't know how they got so deep without tripping a mine, an alarm, something. There were five boats that hit us here, and seven at the east gate, and they were prepared, I mean, these bastards were packin' some heat."

"Well damn." He paused. "Sounds to me like we're kickin that ass though. How is east gate doin'?"

"They killed everybody in the boats, however they got this deep, they ain't seem to know 'bout the defense much deeper in, three of the boats landed in a minefield, two more landed right in the cross fire of the 50mm magnetic turrets. Here, we just hit 'em with rockets before they landed, 'cept that one that got up and caught Raul. Dirty thieves."

Cody's radio clicked on, "Alligator this is Bluebird 9, you got some industrialized thugs headin' y'all's way, and they look pissed. I count twelve boats, each with about diez tin-heads. I'm a pick some off, but get the big guns ready. I don't know how they got in, but shit, here they are."

"Loud and clear Bluebird 9. Today's just goin' to Hell in a hand basket ain't it? Oh well, the more thugs the Retards Doing Acid throw at us, the more money they lose!" Said Cody, using what was actually one of the tamer things the rebels had decided that RDA could also stand for.

Tyler called back towards the rear bunker, "Get 30 mil fire across this whole area, we got a lot of turds comin' to stink up the place!"

There was a rushing around and a clamoring of metals and bullets as the heavier weapons were set up, but then silence. It got so quiet for about thirty seconds, as if time had stopped, that when faint sniper rifle reports were heard, it was almost painful to their ears. The shots got closer and closer and time seemed to move slower and slower. Then, in an instant that felt like less than an nanosecond, there they were. Boats full of RDA mercenaries, each getting hazard pay and a bounty for each rebel they could capture. For them, money was all the motivation they needed to lay their lives on the line.

The rebels opened fire wildly and destructively. Cody leveled his M-14 and began shooting at anything with the RDA logo on it. He counted as RDA mercenaries fell. 'One, two, three down.' He thought.

"Look at 'em Ty; fallin' trailers in a tornado! We're kick-" Suddenly, as Cody turned to see his comrade, expecting to see jubilation in their success, he found himself looking down the barrel of a pistol. "Well damn."

"Indeed, Cody Wright, by the Authority of the RDA you are under arrest for treason, murder, and obstruction of economic activity." Tyler said this with the most grim look on his face.

"Buddy, are you OK? This ain't the time for jokes."

"Haha, no, its not, that's why I ain't jokin'. Drop your gun."

"Really? What did they give you for this? Money? A mansion? It doesn't matter, they lied to you. Just so you know. You might take me out today, but for the rest of your life, you will never be happy."

"Shut up!" Said Tyler, trying to push back the good memories he had with Cody, all the things he had done to keep his cover and how he had let himself bond with the rebels, it was everything he could do to keep his face steady and the gun from shaking. "Put the damn gun down, now!"

Suddenly, Tammie jumped into the trench where the standoff was occurring. Believing this was his salvation, Cody sighed, relieved and expecting he to suddenly realize the situation and take Tyler down and subdue him. But instead, she stood up and barked "Cody! Do whatever the hell he tells you." and pointed to Tyler.

"You too? fml." Said Cody without emotion on the surface, but inside he felt hurt, betrayed of course, but it was especially stinging because he had been completely naive to all this. He moved to set down his M-14 on the ground; then dropped prone and swung it like a club at Tyler's feet. He collapsed, firing his pistol in the air once. Before she could react, Cody had put two rounds into Tammie's side. She dropped with a yelp that nearly made him cry right there. He then turned his rifle on Tyler, he had fought dirty before, and this was low, but if he could not deal with betrayal, he would not have been alive to face this instance of it. Tyler and Tammie had suddenly just become more RDA agents in his mind. As he pulled the trigger, all he heard was a click; his magazine was empty.

Tyler lurched at him, his pale fist hit hard against Cody's dark-skinned face, causing both to bleed red. Cody swung back at him, landing a punch directly in the nose, sunning him just long enough for Cody to draw a weapon, an arrow that had fallen from his quiver in the fight. As Tyler went in for another blow, aiming at the rebel's throat this time, Cody jabbed the arrow into his betrayer's chest, right in between two ribs. Tyler stopped, almost as if in mid-air, and looked at Cody with eyes filled with respect, not hatred as he died. It was quick, the arrowhead was coated in water moccasin venom and went in right near his heart; Cody set his new enemy down gently beside him. He approached Tammie cautiously, with an arrow on the string of his bow, ready to release it and strike the final blow.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because," she began, then coughed up a small amount of blood, "we will never win. I, I just couldn't live knowing that."

"And, so, at least we where happy! At least we had some freedom! That's what will make us win! You thought you would be better off as an RDA slave? Thinking like that is the only thing that can stop us from winning."

"I, I don't know. No. Yes." She was losing grip on reality.

"To think, I almost let myself fall for you. You are just another greedy ass willing to destroy the world for a few dollars."

"No I am not!" She tried to convince herself, "I thought, maybe I could use the money to change things, maybe I could change them! I just wanted, I don't know what I wanted." She lamented. As Cody looked for more words, she grabbed the pistol Tyler had nearly used to kill Cody. As she brought it around, Cody almost released his arrow, but she instead brought the pistol to her own head and pulled the trigger.

"Well damn."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Ethan Kasey could hardly contain himself; he yanked his tie off and undid the first button of his oxford white shirt. He threw his empty coffee cup emblazoned with the letters RDA on the side at the wall,but the durable ceramics did not shatter. He grabbed his hair, which was cut by an expensive stylist in Jacksonville, in fistfuls and wanted to pull it out. He some of the papers off his desk in a temper tantrum worthy of a two year old. It certainly was not a fitting episode for the RDA's Director of the the Public Relations for the Southeastern Region of the United States. 'Of the United States' the phrase echoed in his mind as he tried to calm himself down mentally, countries were such a joke, they no longer retained any power, they were just convenient, preformed bins for the RDA to sort people into and to divide up power among executives.

"What the hell do you mean they lost?" He exclaimed at the slender paper pusher in front of his desk.

The smallish man shrunk back from Ethan's rage. While in his fifties, the executive was still well built and his military background made him all the more scary. "W-well, we lost contact with the combat teams-"

"And the double agents."

"They were supposed to report three hours ago. Not a word from them."

"How do we keep getting beat by a bunch of alligator munching, unwashed, swamp rats?"

"Umm."

"Shut up, it's a rhetorical question you idiot." He covered his face with his hands. "Get out of my sight. Now!"

The small man rushed out of the expensive looking office, closing the door behind him. Ethan sat in his high-backed chair and wondered how he would explain this failure to his superiors. He had gotten a group best mercenaries the RDA had, Death's Angles, they had a reputation of total brutality and cutthroat tactics, in fact, even more brutal than the rebels reputation. Furthermore, he had double agents in Cody Wright's inner circle, they had chances to kill him every day, but they had to capture him alive, or else he would have been a martyr.

A red light glowed on the hologram panel on his desk, it was accompanied by a soft beeping tone. He gently moved his index finger across it. "Gimme good news, Sheila." He said to his sectary through the intercom.

"Well, I actually can, Death's Angels are in bound by Samson, guess who they say they have in the cargo bay?" Chimed her melodic voice, which cheered Ethan up almost as much as the news itself.

"Wright, right?"

"Indeed! You're so smart."

"Thanks." He slid his finger back across the holographic keypad, and then, being sure it was off, he began to dance around his desk in jubilation. He knew he was going to get that raise now! Maybe even a promotion!


End file.
